Players qualify through the Port Phillip Open Amateur, which is played immediately before the championship.

The Port Phillip Open Amateur is a 72-hole stroke-play tournament played at Commonwealth and Kingston Heath golf clubs.

These early championships are generally treated as editions of the Australian Women's Amateur.

Evelyn Calder won and some sources referred to her as "the first lady champion of Australia".

Nellie De Little won the championship in 1902, 1903 and 1906 with Clare Murphy also a repeat winner, in 1904 and 1905.

[14] From 1928 the championship became a match play event, the Australian Women's Amateur also changing the same year.